Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Wisteria / Wistaria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria.

Wisteria vines climb by twining their stems either clockwise or counter-clockwise round any available support. They can climb as high as 20 m above the ground and spread out 10 m laterally. The world's largest known Wisteria vine is in Sierra Madre, California, measuring more than 1 acre (0.40 ha) in size and weighing 250 tons.

The leaves are alternate, 15 to 35 cm long, pinnate, with 9 to 19 leaflets. The flowers are produced in pendulous racemes 10 to 80 cm long, similar to those of the genus Laburnum, but are purple, violet, pink or white, but not yellow. Flowering is in the spring (just before or as the leaves open) in some Asian species, and in mid to late summer in the American species and W. japonica. The flowers of some species are fragrant, most notably Chinese Wisteria. The seeds are produced in pods similar to those of Laburnum, and, like the seeds of that genus, are poisonous.

Some species are popular ornamental plants, especially in China and Japan. Wisteria species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail.

Osama bin Laden, 9/11 mastermind and leader of terrorist organization al Qaeda, had been killed on 01/5/2011 night by an elite team of Navy Seals. With the terrorist mastermind dead, America has scored a stunning symbolic victory. The news was announced by US President Obama on 02/05/2011.

Bin Laden was shot in the head in an ensuing firefight, the Press Association reported. US personnel identified him by facial recognition. Officials declined to say whether DNA analysis had also been used.

The Al-Qa'ida chief was living in a house that a US official said was "custom built to hide someone of significance".

US officials said the CIA tracked bin Laden to his compound in Abbottabad (above) , about 65km north of the capital Islamabad, then elite Navy Seal troops flew to the hideout in four helicopters.

Abbottabad is far from the remote mountain caves along the Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal border where most intelligence assessments had put bin Laden in recent years.

Speaking from the White House, the US President Barack Obama today said, "I can report to the American people and to the world that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

Crowds in New York's Times Square react to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is remotely located 2,000 miles off the coast of Tahiti. The original settlers of the island were Polynesians who migrated to the far-off land between 400 and 600 BC. They built many shrines and statues, called moai, from stones quarried throughout the island including a volcano site. Researchers still question exactly how the large stones were moved.

The Lost City of Atlantis was introduced to the West 2,400 years ago by Plato, who claimed it to be the island home of an advanced society. Legend says it was sunk by an earthquake, with later interpretations as an underwater kingdom protected by mermaids. Its whereabouts still a mystery, recent underwater evidence suggests it was once apart of a larger landmass in Cyprus off the Mediterranean (c.), but the only true Atlantis exists in the Bahamas as a grand casino and resort hotel.

The mighty Incan Empire of South America flourished between 1200 and 1535 AD. They developed drainage systems and canals to expand their crops, and built stone cities atop steep mountains ” such as Machu Picchu (above)” without ever inventing the wheel. Despite their vast achievements, the Incan Empire with its 40,000 manned army was no match for 180 Spanish conquistadors armed with advanced weapons and smallpox.